How Blumhouse Broke the Mould – Part 3

‘Glass’ is a new step for Blumhouse, this isn’t a typical Horror movie, this is blockbuster territory! Naturally the budget will likely extend if Disney are involved but I can’t imagine it will stray too far from their model considering the constant success it’s managed to reap.

Image of Daniel Kaluuya in ‘Get Out’.

Only a month after ‘Split’ was released, ‘Get Out’ was shown in cinemas. This is arguably the most critically acclaimed movie in Blumhouse’s roster to date, receiving not one but four Oscar nominations for Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best Actor. ‘Get Out’ challenges race relations and forces the viewer to question the way they perceive roles in society the way no film has before.

The Film was written and directed by Jordan Peele who was well known for his work on the comedy sketch show ‘Key & Peele’. To him the shift from Comedy to Horror seemed like an obvious one, he believes the genres are similar. In an interview with Forbes he spoke of the similarities, “so much of it is pacing, so much of it [relies on] reveals”. His aim was to create a Horror film with a satirical edge to it and he created just that, parodying racial ignorance to the point of a hellish nightmare.

Peele was very careful with his story, he was concerned that it could possibly have the reverse effect to his intention, causing black and white people to fear each other and creating more friction between races. Luckily this wasn’t the case and the film experienced acclaim from both audiences and critics alike, achieving a whopping 99% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

It seems things can only get better for Blumhouse, in 2016 it was announced that that they would producing the next ‘Halloween’ which will be released in October this year. This will be the eleventh film in the franchise and will serve as a direct sequel to the original ‘Halloween’ released in 1978 forty years ago. Jamie Lee Curtis will be reprising her role and John Carpenter will be returning, not only as an Executive Producer but as Composer. David Gordon Green will be directing and has also written the script along with Danny McBride, both known for comedies such as ‘Pineapple Express’ and HBOs ‘Eastbound and Down’. These may seem like a strange choice but after the success of ‘Get Out’ Blum has shown that these offbeat choices can certainly pay off.

Blumhouse Productions have gone from strength to strength since its humble start in 2000. They’ve achieved success by working in a way no other production company would dare. They concentrate on keeping budgets low and ideas fresh. At big studios, filmmakers need to be able to compare their film to others in order to give the execs an idea of what it could be, Blumhouse works the opposite way. They want to hear ideas that can’t be compared to others, that’s why they’re so successful, they’re the only company breaking the mould.